Last week, he was relegated to special teams. The week before, he didn't even make the trip to Arkansas.

But this week, Eltoro Freeman was back in the starting lineup. And was a bright spot for Auburn in a 31-10 loss to LSU Saturday.

"He was playing fast," AU head coach Gene Chizik said. "He was playing with a lot of enthusiasm even there at the end of the game.

"I think he helped our football team tonight. He's certainly worked hard the last couple of weeks to get back to the point where he could play and help our defense so I was really proud of him tonight."

Freeman led Auburn's defense with 12 tackles (5 solo) plus two tackles-for-loss and one sack. Coming into the game, Freeman had just seven tackles on the season.

"It was great," Freeman said. "I just want to thank God for allowing me to play like I did tonight. But it's kind of sweet and sour -- more sour because of the loss because it's all about the team and not me."